Warm
by hedqecat
Summary: tumblr prompt: au where nico likes to have contact with jason because he's warm [M/M Nico-Centric Introspective Nonsense]


formal apology for several hundred words of introspective rambley nonsense.

also this was return pre-boo release, of course.

* * *

nico di angelo did not like to be touched, thank you very much. he didn't want people getting in his space, whether he knew them or not, and he didn't like the feeling of other people's hands on his skin. even through the thick material of his bomber jacket, it itched and burned and made him want to claw the very flesh from his bones.

people weren't very good at understanding this. even perfect strangers were prone to putting their hands on him, little touches on the shoulder or arm, that just made him want to scream and bat them away. he didn't though. just clenched his teeth and hoped no one noticed when he started shaking.

his friends were worse. because friends are supposed to touch you, right? at least when he barely knew frank, and jason, and piper, and all the rest of the Seven Halfbloods Who Answered The Call, he could snap at them not to touch him, ever, without feeling too bad. but as time went by, and he found himself drawn into the messy codependent little crew, it got harder and harder, and his protests got softer and softer.

not that it stopped being uncomfortable. he just stopped being able to say so.

percy was the worst. he'd struck up a persistent friendship in spite of nico's admitted feelings, or perhaps because of them, which the son of poseidon seemed to think involve lots of draping his arm across nico's shoulders, and grabbing at his hands. and while nico was glad for his friendship, the older boy's fingers burned like molten brands against nico's skin. it was just too much, like everything else about percy.

hazel was almost okay. she never forced touch on him, maybe because she had a similar aversion, though not to the degree nico did. their relationship wasn't the most physical, just a kiss on the forehead here and there, and that was perfect for them. nico was more than happy to let her use all her touch allotment on frank, even if he liked to pretend to be the overprotective big brother.

jason though. jason was something else entirely. his touch was somewhere between the boiling hot of percy's, and the gentle coolness of hazel's. warm, but not burning.

jason also asked first. the first time he did so, asking permission to help nico tighten the straps on his armor, nico had been so stunned he almost dropped his sword on his foot, point down. jason hadn't even laughed at him for that. his lip had twitched just slightly, but that might have been the beginnings of a smile, when nico acquiesced to have him fix the buckles nico hadn't been sure how to tighten. in his defense, nico hadn't used camp halfblood's armor since he was ten, and percy had buckled it for him then.

and it only got worse from there.

nico was naturally a cold person. his temperature always ran a few degrees below what was considered normal, and because of that he always found himself chilly. even bundled up in a thick jacket, he was just one gust of wind from shivering and chattering teeth.

and jason. jason was warm.

at first nico shied away, refusing jason and his offered sweaters. it was too nice, it was too much, he'd done this before, get all messed up over the stupidly nice guy, and sure even though that hadn't turned out half as terrible as he'd expected, he wasn't exactly looking to do it again anytime soon, y'know?

but then piper had left, gone off to join the hunters, to everyone's surprise. though jason had confided to nico, while handing the hades kid a nearly scorching mug of hot chocolate, that his sister might have had something to do with it, if nico knew what he meant.

nico had choked on his chocolate, and spilled half of it down his front, but yeah he got what jason meant.

a week later, and luckily without any scalding beverages to spill, jason had spilled the beans on his own not so linear leanings. demisexual, he called it. an attraction to those with whom you've developed a close bond. it was part of why things with him and piper hadn't worked out, yeah he'd thought she was lovely, but they'd gotten together when before they really knew each other.

jason quietly explained all this, gazing at nico with so much warmth, that nico almost wished he had something hot to spill everywhere, so he didn't have to figure out how to respond.

it was absolutely insane to even consider that jason could possibly be attracted to him. but at the same time, it wasn't. who else did jason have a close relationship with other than nico? he and percy were friends, but more the 'beat each other with swords and say rude things' type. piper had left, and he'd already said things hadn't worked with her. and then there was leo, but he'd been gone for months trying to find the island of ogygia, and they'd only heard from him through the occasional iris message.

nico swallowed drily.

"oh," he rasped, looking away from jason's soft blue eyes. they were the same color as thalia's, but somehow her's looked like chips of ice, where as jason's reminded him of a summer afternoon sky.

"can i kiss you?" jason asked, clasping his hands together in his lap, almost like he was nervous, though if he were the rest of his posture didn't betray it.

nico fell absolutely still, before glancing up at jason's face through his curly bangs. despite the situation, jason still managed to look infinitely patient. even though nico knew a lot of that was just learned self control, he still appreciated it a lot.

"uhn, yeah, okay," he answered finally, quickly swiping his tongue across his lips, hoping they weren't too chapped, and oh gods did he brush his teeth this morning he couldn't remember, and-

everything came to a screeching grinding halt when jason leaned forward into his space, gently pressing his lips against nico's.

nico gripped his knees tightly, almost expecting it to feel awful somehow, but the itching and the burning never came, it was just lovely, and perfect, and wonderfully warm.

* * *

okay yeah i went a little off the deep end there, and as always written on mobile mode so i haven't edited it yet. also my first jasico, which i don't really ship romantically but hey. thanks for reading!


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